Why Co-op flowers make the best gifts

Horticulture buyer explains why Co-op flowers offer gifts with meaning ahead of Mother’s Day

At Co-op, our flowers offer gifts with heart. But what does that mean? It means that when you’re next buying flowers for your mum or the mother figure in your life, you’ll be creating a positive impact and helping growers around the world. Here’s how we do that:

A fairer future

We’re proud to be the largest UK retailer of Fairtrade flowers, but that’s just the start. Since 2012, 100% of our roses sourced from Africa have been Fairtrade. You’ll find these in our colourful mixed roses bouquets for Mother’s Day. We also made a commitment in 2020 to increase the contributions we make to our Fairtrade flower producers.

Buying Fairtrade means more than a fairer price for workers. Alongside Fairtrade supplier Flamingo Flowers, we’re investing in a better future for workers’ children, with the renovation of a primary school in Naivasha, Kenya. Through this support, the number of children enrolled in the school has increased, as has the average performance of each child. This is just one of the projects Fairtrade supports – it’s amazing what good a beautiful bunch of roses can do.

100% British

It doesn’t stop there: we’re also supporting British growers as they tackle the uncertainty of the great British weather. We work flexibly with our growers to accommodate their needs and requirements, making sure we can vary the flowers in our 100% British bouquets accordingly. And in return, you get a bloom of Britain’s best seasonal flowers, which reflect our grower’s skills and knowledge.

Sustainably sourced…

We’re also looking for ways for our flowers to be more sustainable. We were one of the first retailers to sign up to the new Fairtrade Sourced Ingredient model for our flowers.

…and packaged

We’ve taken our values into our packaging too. The packaging that keeps our bouquets fresh is fully recyclable at Co-op stores. We’re continuing to do our bit for the planet by making all our packaging recyclable at kerbside or through our soft film collection points in stores — and by choosing Co-op flowers, you can recycle with us.

So, when you’re instore to pick up a bouquet for the most important women in your life, you can be confident that the values we place in our flowers make for a more meaningful gift.